Consider the last time you were
excited about purchasing a new
computer or buying the latest cable/
internet package for your home.
The buying experience, along with
price, may have been fantastic, but
then something happened and you
needed help. Did you go back to
the person who handled the sale?
No. You called the 800 number.
What was that experience like?
What is that experience like for
your customers? In a business climate where new buyers make their
transactions online, are you being
taken out of the equation? Did the
customer buy the policy or did they
buy you? These are some of the difficult questions we need to ask ourselves as professionals.

Who you work with matters

What does this have to do with restoration and its relationship with
insurance? It is about leveraging
relationships as a trusted professional to become a hero for customers during their hour of need to truly
build a business on customer service.

This means more than listening and anticipating the needs of customers before
they know they have them. That is how
winners compete. Every agency that sells
personal or commercial property and
casualty policies should have a number
of companies that they and their customers can trust.

It is hard to understand what a customer is going through for those who have
never personally experienced a property
loss. The level of confusion and anguish
is tantamount to a serious medical emergency. Imagine coming home from work
to find everything is soaking wet and covered in soot. In a few minutes, there will
be a small army of strangers invading your

The Right Partnercan be Smart BusinessThe insurance industry has changed drastically in recent years with price frequently becoming a primary differentiator between companies. If an insurer chooses to be a warrior ontoday’s battleground, the chances are that part of the battle will includedrawing swords over the issue of price. Businesses have been hackingaway at each other’s value until there is nothing left but the bones ofprice, essentially cannibalizing the industry within the market. This isevident with every insurance marketing campaign that touts, “I cansave you money,” in essence turning insurance into a commodity.

The role of the agent has changed a lotthrough the years as well. There is morepressure for an agent to produce whilethere is a price war, and companies usu-ally do not want agents heavily involvedin the claims process. However, changingcustomer expectations have led to claimscenters, 800 numbers and online portalswhich have become the new face of cus-tomer service, one of the last few weap-ons to use on the battlefield. Mechanizingcustomer service can have harmful effects